


A Dog's For Life...

by snakeowls



Series: R/S 24 Hour Challenge works [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dogs, Fluff, M/M, No Plot/Plotless, as usual, pet-sitting, rs24hrchallenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 20:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13372347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeowls/pseuds/snakeowls
Summary: Sirius and Remus want a dog, so Sirius is delighted to come to to their neighbours' rescue and look after their puppy for the weekend.  What could possibly go wrong?





	A Dog's For Life...

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the R/S 24 Hour Challenge set by shessocold. Prompt was 'pet sitting for a friend', words were sweater, dinner, vase, neighbour, bowl.
> 
> This is unbetaed and I will come back and make it better at some point in the future, I ran out of time :)

Sirius wanted a dog. Like, really _really_ wanted a dog. A lovely little puppy that he and Remus would raise together and teach tricks and as Padfoot he and the pup would romp together in the park, and snuggle up with Remus on the couch.

Remus also wanted a dog, and all of those things too, but every so often the sensible side of his brain would kick in and he’d manage to convince Sirius that it was a bad idea. Sirius knew that it wasn’t a good idea - rumblings of war were ever increasing and he was being sent on Order missions more frequently now - but he needed something good to distract his mind.

Which is why Sirius agreed to look after the upstairs neighbours’ three-month old puppy for the weekend. Brian and Anja were going to her sister’s wedding and their pet-sitter had cancelled last-minute, and “Of course, we’d love to look after Clarence! Oh, it’s no bother, yes Remus won’t mind!”

However when Sirius bounded into their flat with little Clarence in tow, Remus found that he did mind, very much indeed.

“We hardly even know them, Sirius, why did you agree to this? And we have to stay in their flat for the whole weekend, isn’t that a bit weird?” Remus watched as Clarence chewed on his lead and refused to admit that it was very cute.

“I think they were pretty desperate. And it’ll be fun! Our own little pup for the weekend. It can be our dry run.”

“We are _not_ getting a dog.”

“You’ll see, me and Clarence will change your mind soon enough!”

However, sadly Clarence did not change Remus’s mind. But he did change Sirius’s. After the weekend that they had he was quite sure that he didn’t want a puppy if all puppies were anything like Clarence.

Anja and Brian had left them with a big list of puppy dos and don’ts as well as detailed instructions on Clarence’s feeding schedule and mentioned that he can be a bit ‘high energy’, but Sirius assured them that everything would be fine, he had lots of experience with dogs, they should just go and enjoy themselves. 

But it didn’t take long for Remus and Sirius to realise that despite his soulful brown eyes, long velvety ears and paws too big for his body lulling them into a false sense of cuteness, Clarence was actually the devil incarnate. Sirius had heard about this Muggle Antichrist, but he wasn’t aware that it would come to earth in the shape of a springer spaniel.

Clarence just Did Not Stop. “I thought that puppies were supposed to sleep for eighteen hours a day, this one is like the opposite,” Remus said wearily, throwing a ball down the hallway for what felt like the hundredth time that day. 

“I think that this puppy is broken,” replied Sirius from where he was draped across the couch taking a much needed break.

“Ugh, he’s pissing on the floor again,” Remus groaned. “No, not on the rug Clarence, pee-pees go on the papers, come on and be a good boy.”

But it was all in vain. Toilet training didn’t seem to have had any effect on Clarence so far, and pee-pees rarely happened on the papers. Don’t even mention the poos. Instead, Clarence viewed the carefully placed newspapers as simply another thing to destroy along with any door knobs within reach, and unsuspecting fingers. His tiny little needle teeth wreaking havoc upon anything that came within half a metre of him.

Sirius was trying to discipline him, telling him he was a naughty boy for ripping a hole in his sweater, and when he pointed his finger at Clarence to end with a final, “No!”, Clarence bit it. It was a cheeky little snap that sent Remus into fits of giggles at the look of shock on Sirius’s face while Clarence toddled off to chew on his toy fox. 

“It’s not funny!” Sirius insisted as he inspected his finger, which was just fine. “Why won’t he listen? I thought that puppies were supposed to be nice, not… _that_.

Remus looked over at Clarence who was a picture of innocence as he rolled about on his back playing with his fox, tail wagging wildly, and shrugged.

Even Padfoot couldn’t help - Clarence was terrified of him. Sirius thought that perhaps Padfoot could provide some fatherly advice to the young pup, or maybe he’d like to cuddle up with him for a snooze, but no. As soon as Clarence saw the huge black beast he cowered behind the couch and had to be coaxed out with peanut butter treats and with promises from Remus that the ‘big bad idiot dog’ was away now. Sirius wasn’t much impressed with Remus’s choice of words, but didn’t complain because he kind of agreed, perhaps it wasn’t one of his greatest ideas. He was starting to think that this whole weekend in general wasn’t one of his greatest ideas...

Feeding times went surprisingly fine. At least the little monster was a fan of his food, so Remus and Sirius got a short bit of respite while Clarence ate his dinner and licked his bowl clean. Plus, according to the puppy crib sheet, Clarence always had a nap after dinner, and thankfully it was true. A solid 45 minutes of snoozing puppy and glorious peace, although the little horror could somehow sense when he was in a room alone and would wake up and cry until one of them dashed back through from the kitchen or toilet or wherever they had dared to go without him.

At night time Remus and Sirius found that they had to sleep in shifts. It appeared that Clarence only had two modes - sleep mode and play mode - and sleep mode only lasted for two hours maximum, no matter the time of day or night. So a bleary-eyed night was spent, first trying to persuade Clarence to sleep in his bed in the living room alone (they gave up after the first hour of pained puppy cries), then the shift work began with one of them being in the living room with Clarence while the other slept in Brian and Anja’s bed, which Remus still found incredibly weird no matter how tired he was. 

Clarence required constant attention and entertainment and refused to play on his own, so the night was filled with a tag-team of endless ball chasing and toy squeaking and sock biting until eventually at 5am Sirius gave up and allowed Clarence to chew on his hair as he lay on the floor and stared blankly at the television where even the little girl and creepy clown on the BBC test card seemed to be laughing at him. He had no idea that it would be quite this much effort to keep a puppy happy, he expected that it would be all cuddles and teaching him to sit and adoring looks, but sadly not.

When Remus finally rose at 8am they tried to take Clarence for a walk to the park, but he was more interested in chewing his lead and barking at passing cars rather than walking, so they ended up carrying the wriggling pup home, passing him back and forth when he got too heavy or boisterous, and got covered in mud in the process.

The rest of the day went slowly in what seemed like an endless cycle of plays and pees and bites and tellings off, until Anja and Brian returned mid-afternoon. Remus and Sirius had never been happier to see their neighbours in their lives. Of course they did not reveal the true horror of the past 36 hours and insisted that Clarence had been brilliant. They gladly accepted the wine and chocolate from Anja before quickly shuffling out of the door and back to the sanctuary of their puppy-free flat.

They both headed straight for the couches and Remus flopped down, face first. “We are _not_ getting a puppy,” he mumbled through the cushion.

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed sadly. 

After a restorative nap, Remus and Sirius flooed over to James and Lily’s house for Sunday dinner and Sirius relayed the tale of their terrible weekend to James while Lily and Remus finished off cooking in the kitchen. 

However, Sirius didn’t get the validation that he expected from James, who looked frankly unimpressed while he cradled one-month old Harry in his arms listening to Sirius’s tale of cleaning up mess and sleep deprivation, and offered very little sympathy. “You had the dog for one night, mate. Maybe think about who your audience is here,” James laughed.

After a few weeks of telling himself not to mope every time he saw a happy couple out walking their perfect dog, Sirius was finally able to put the experience behind him and came to terms with their dogless future. He knew that Padfoot would be the only dog in their lives and had to come to terms with it. But the unexpected happened six months later when Remus surprised him by bringing home a big old Golden Retriever called Honey who he had found at the Cat & Dog Home.

“I thought you said that we weren’t getting a dog!” Sirius said, kneeling down to say hello to his new friend.

“I said no puppies, this old girl is definitely not a puppy,” Remus smiled as he gave Honey a clap on her head. “Nobody wanted her, what was I supposed to do?”

Honey gave Sirius a paw, and he shook it and then nuzzled into her big furry neck. “Oh, she’s perfect Remus!”

And that she was. She accompanied them to the park in the afternoons and after a short burst of ball-chasing with Padfoot she was happy to amble about and sniff while Remus and Sirius chatted and caught up on life between missions. Despite her large size, she appeared to believe that she was a lap dog and always wanted to sit on one of them on the couch, but Remus and Sirius didn’t mind. In fact, they would often get jealous if Honey didn’t choose them… 

Honey slept on Remus’s feet to keep them warm when Sirius was away and kept him safe with a little grumble and bark when anyone came to the front door, but was always very kind to the postman. She was so soft and kind with Harry, who absolutely loved her, and even Clarence grew to like her once he got a bit bigger and braver, and they always gave each other a hello sniff on the stairwell when they met.

She really was the perfect dog, and Remus and Sirius couldn’t have been happier.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I love dogs, but my puppy was a nightmare. It's kind of like therapy writing this... She is an angel now though, as I'm sure Clarence was once he grew up 0:)


End file.
